Dolphins Wide Receiver Draft History: The Hits, Misses and Trends

As we head into the homestretch to the 2021 NFL Draft, it's a good time to revisit the Miami Dolphins draft history at every position.

In this draft series, we'll break down each position with number of picks since the start of the "common draft" in 1967, first-round selections, hits and misses, and any trends that might apply.

We continue with the wide receiver position:

DOLPHINS WIDE RECEIVER DRAFT HISTORY

Number of picks: 65

Number of first-round picks: 5 (Randal Hill, 1991; O.J. McDuffie, 1993; Yatil Green, 1997; Ted Ginn Jr., 2009; DeVante Parker, 2015)

Hits: Nat Moore (Round 3, 1974), Duriel Harris (Round 3, 1976), Mark Duper (Round 2, 1982), Mark Clayton (Round 8, 1983), McDuffie, Chris Chambers (Round 2, 2001), Brian Hartline (Round 4, 2009), Jarvis Landry (Round 2, 2014)

Misses: Hill, Green*, Larry Shannon (Round 3, 1998), Derek Hagan (Round 3, 2006), Patrick Turner (Round 3, 2009), Leonte Carroo (Round 3, 2016)

Trends: The Dolphins have not used premium picks on wide receivers very often over the past 20 years, with only four selected in either Round 1 or Round 2, though the success rate during that time was pretty solid. Of the last 10 wide receivers drafted by the Dolphins, including college QB Malcolm Perry last year, seven were taken in the fifth round or later.

HOW THE DOLPHINS HAVE DONE

What really stands out when assessing the Dolphins' work in the draft with wide receivers in the lack of success in the third round. It truly is astonishing, and not in a good way.

The last four wide receiver the Dolphins took in that round were part of our "misses" list.

Speaking on that list, we put an asterisk next to Yatil Green's name because we never got the chance to find out what kind of NFL player he could have become, the result of nasty injuries each of his two training camps with Miami.

Considering he was still in the NFL at one point last season, Ginn carved himself a nice career after all, though he clearly was overdrafted at ninth overall. Then there's the case of DeVante Parker, whose Dolphins story is not yet complete.

If he can produce another season or two like the one he had in 2019, that pick is going to look an awful look better than it does right now.

One thing really missing from the Dolphins' wide receiver draft resume are late-round hits because, outside of Clayton, there really isn't much here.